Please Tell Me About This Kamisori

jkcerda said:

link to tutorials please.

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If you look on YouTube for kamisori honing/kamisori shaving then tons come up.
After the first 5 you quickly get the idea - more laps on Omote than Ura (10:1, 12:2, 15:3 or just make it up) and lots of people doing gymnastics using only the Omote against the face for shaving, and lots more people developing and adapting the tradition by using both Omote and Ura sides...

For some reason the big Henkotsus are rising to the surface at the moment.
Jeremy has three and now I have another.
It's 8/8(!) and the handle needed wrapping.
Before:


And after:

Maybe I should've wrapped the handle before honing it, but it just wouldn't wait!

thanks, lots to learn, I see there are different styles and I have no clue how to sharpen them. looking at

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Azuma Yasuki Steel and a

Henkotsu Kamisori.
their angles are completely different and I have never honed a razor before so I am trying to find something that would be easy to hone for a newbie.

jkcerda said:

thanks, lots to learn, I see there are different styles and I have no clue how to sharpen them. looking at
their angles are completely different and I have never honed a razor before so I am trying to find something that would be easy to hone for a newbie.

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It might be better to start with razors that have a Western style symmetrical grind then.
And again YouTube will supply a vast number of very good razor honing videos.

any clue what names I should be looking for then?

mjclark said:

It might be better to start with razors that have a Western style symmetrical grind then.
And again YouTube will supply a vast number of very good razor honing videos.

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found.
Kenwa Japanese Straight Razor

but it's a lot more than I am willing to invest right now

Gents, I recently looked at some eBay listings for Kamisori and saw quite of few that were listed as NOS, but were obviously reground to make them serviceable. Now grinding new hollows into a kamisori will prolong its service life and will shave just as well as a NOS one, but to charge high prices under the fraudulent guise of NOS is terrible. If you guys have any you are contemplating look very carefully at the description pics and compare them to new Kamisori profiles.

Kentos said:

Gents, I recently looked at some eBay listings for Kamisori and saw quite of few that were listed as NOS, but were obviously reground to make them serviceable. Now grinding new hollows into a kamisori will prolong its service life and will shave just as well as a NOS one, but to charge high prices under the fraudulent guise of NOS is terrible. If you guys have any you are contemplating look very carefully at the description pics and compare them to new Kamisori profiles.

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that sucks, I was looking at 2 NOS, but I can't tell if they are good, pics of a new Kamisori profile would be nice.

I wouldn't ever buy anything on eBay NOS for a premium price , let alone the mysterious and poorly documented Japanese Vintage Kamisori.

3: my over honed beater
2: pretty decent condition Henkotsu medium size
1: new mono steel Takami

Kentos said:

I wouldn't ever buy anything on eBay NOS for a premium price , let alone the mysterious and poorly documented Japanese Vintage Kamisori.

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You're absolutely right!
As I'm discovering, the Western knowledge base for kamisori is currently sparse and small.

Perhaps discussions like this can contribute to it.

After acquiring that first big Henkotsu, I am absolutely fascinated by kamisori and surprised at how little we seem to know about them.

mjclark said:

You're absolutely right!
As I'm discovering, the Western knowledge base for kamisori is currently sparse and small.

Perhaps discussions like this can contribute to it.

After acquiring that first big Henkotsu, I am absolutely fascinated by kamisori and surprised at how little we seem to know about them.

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I think you probably already know more about them than the average Japanese!

Kentos said:

I think you probably already know more about them than the average Japanese!

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Was gonna say

FWIW I find Vintage NOS to be the most overrated thing in the wetshaving world in general, not just for kamis. The price jump is typically extreme and there is no real advantage (other than the "it's mine and mine alone" feels) over a well cared for vintage blade. Indeed, often the well maintained vintage used blade will be in better condition than a NOS blade that has been sitting in its deteriorating box for decades.

stoop said:

Was gonna say

FWIW I find Vintage NOS to be the most overrated thing in the wetshaving world in general, not just for kamis. The price jump is typically extreme and there is no real advantage (other than the "it's mine and mine alone" feels) over a well cared for vintage blade. Indeed, often the well maintained vintage used blade will be in better condition than a NOS blade that has been sitting in its deteriorating box for decades.

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I would add that vintage used blades have already been "test driven" and proven to shave.

I have one in the way

Got my second kamisori underway now - a big 8/8 Henkotsu:

There was a lot of work to be done on this one and a lot of bad steel on the edge which, for some reason, surprised me.

But 3 hours later (!) she was ready to shave:


At 8/8 with a square point this is quite a formidable blade but the shave is so comfortable.

And the character of this razor is quite different from my other Henkotsu.

I guess kamisori are the new frontier [emoji3]

stoop said:

I just asked around if way back then they ever pronounced "a" like "ko" (because that's clearly a hiragana あ - "a") and the answer was universally "nope". So no idea what's up with the "hen atsu".

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My wife's family said the same.

Bluebriz said:

My wife's family said the same.

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Yeah I'm at a loss there; the only other thing I can think of is maybe it is actually a gaijin-trolling old name kanji that just looks a lot like a hiragana あ.

It's not あ, but I guess an old character for こ.

Kentos said:

It's not あ, but I guess an old character for こ.

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You’re right, but I asked some 60-70 year olds (Japanese) and they had never heard that reading of it.

Check this out:



That character used to be こ

It s a beauty ! I am really getting interested in those kamisori....

It's interesting how much some characters have changed.